


Safe And Sound

by for_the_love_of_wolves



Series: One Hundred Ways To Say "I Love You" [6]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Child Abuse, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Running Away, Young Chris Argent, Young Peter Hale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24493723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/for_the_love_of_wolves/pseuds/for_the_love_of_wolves
Summary: Chris runs away from his abusive father. The Hales take him in. (Written for number 83: "Stay there. I'm coming to get you.")
Relationships: Chris Argent/Peter Hale
Series: One Hundred Ways To Say "I Love You" [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1698595
Comments: 6
Kudos: 170





	Safe And Sound

It’s a rainy October night and Chris stumbles down a street dressed in nothing but a thin white shirt and sweatpants. His feet move on autopilot. Step after step. He has no idea where he’s going. He just wants to move forward and never look back.  
  
The rain is beating down on him relentlessly. Soon, his clothes cling to him like a second skin. Chris barely notices. He feels numb. 

Eventually, he reaches a bus station. He slumps on the narrow bench, his feet burning. He hopes he’s been walking long enough to gain some distance. A lone car approaches slowly and Chris watches it anxiously. It doesn’t stop and Chris exhales in relief. He fumbles for his mobile phone with a shaking hand. He looks down at it for a moment, biting his lip. He hesitates.  
  
It’s the middle of the night. Everyone is going to be asleep. He shouldn’t … He shouldn’t call. He doesn’t want to be a bother. A nuisance. Chris sighs and almost puts his mobile away. Almost. But then, he hears it again. That voice. His father’s voice, echoing in his mind. _You're pathetic. Look at you, crying like a girl. Man up. Be faster. Faster!_ Chris groans and reaches for his face. The bruises blooming there are already aching. He grimaces when his fingertips touch heated swollen skin.  
  
Suddenly, he realizes the meaning of his current situation. He realizes he’s all alone out here, hopefully miles away from his father’s house, with nothing but the clothes he’s wearing and his mobile. He doesn’t have money. He needs help. And there’s only one place he’s going to find it.

Chris’ stomach clenches painfully and his trembling fingers dial the number.  
  
Peter picks up almost immediately. He doesn’t sound sleepy at all. But worried. Very. “Christopher? Chris, are you alright?”  
  
God. Chris can’t say anything. It’s like the words are stuck in his throat. He only manages a weak noise resembling a sob, and Peter’s voice on the other side gets frantic. “Chris? What’s going on? Are you safe? Tell me, Chris!” 

Chris takes a shaky breath. He closes his eyes and his fingers tighten around the mobile. “I … Fuck, I … I ran away, Pete. I left.” 

There’s silence on the other side for a moment. Then Peter says, “Good,” his voice calm and firm. 

Chris wraps his free arm around himself and looks around helplessly. “I … I don’t know what to do.” Or where to go …

“Where are you now?”  
  
“Bus station.” Chris looks up at the sign and squints, barely able to make out the word. He sends a message with his location instead. 

“Stay there. I’m coming to get you,” Peter says after a short moment. 

Chris sniffs, wiping at his eyes angrily. “Okay.” He feels both relieved and embarrassed. He should be stronger than this, right?  
  
He ends the call and lowers his mobile, putting it away. He shivers. Only now he really notices how cold it is. The rain feels freezing on his skin. Like cold pin pricks. He shoves his clammy fingers under his shirt, trying to warm them on his own skin.  
  
He doesn’t know how much time passes until he sees the lights of Peter’s car approaching. 

Peter jumps out and hurries towards him, his face stony. Chris gets up and meets him halfway, lowering his head slightly. “Hey,” he mumbles. Peter doesn’t answer. He puts a finger on Chris’ jaw, making him look up. Peter inhales sharply. Chris avoids his gaze, but he notices Peter’s eyes flashing golden momentarily. “This bastard,” the werewolf spits out. “I’m going to kill him.”  
  
Chris smiles weakly. He shivers again and Peter takes his jacket off, giving it to Chris. “Put it on. Come on, we go home.”

It’s heavenly warm inside the car. Chris sinks back into the cushions carefully stretching his legs. Peter is silent for a while, focusing on the street. Chris almost wants to ask him why he hasn’t been sleeping, but then he remembers the full moon is close and makes the werewolves more nocturnal. He figures Peter has slept most of the day. Chris hasn’t slept properly for two days. And he really starts to feel it. His legs are heavy and his head aches. 

Peter glances at him. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

Chris sighs. “It was one of his lessons. Again. I wasn’t fast enough to dodge him.” He points at his black eye. “That’s where I got this one from.”  
  
Peter growls lowly. His fingers tighten around the steering wheel. “And the others?”  
  
Chris hesitates. He looks down at his hands folded in his lap and swallows heavily. “Kate told him, Pete.”

Peter stops the car in front of his family’s house and looks at Chris with wide eyes. “She told him?”  
  
“Yeah. Told him she saw us. Described it to him in all details.” How they were holding hands. How they kissed. Because they were one town away and thought they were safe … “When he lunged at me, he said he didn’t raise a fucking fag and a ... a monster fucker,” Chris says bitterly, one of his hands clenching into a tight fist. Everything inside him clenches. He still can’t believe his sister betrayed him like that. He'd begged her not to. But then … She had always been so jealous.  
  
Peter’s eyes flash again and Chris catches the barest hint of fangs. “I’m _definitely_ going to kill him.”

“No. You won’t. You won’t become a killer just because of me, you hear me?” Chris tells him firmly.  
  
Peter scowls. “Fine, but you have to tell the police this time, Chris. You have to tell them everything. They will arrest him for child abuse. He can’t get away with this shit. He has been getting away for _years_.” 

Chris sighs. Another wave of anxiety rushes through him. “I know …” He runs a hand through his hair and it comes away wet. He coughs.  
  
Peter frowns. He opens the car door. “Fuck. I forgot how fast you humans get ill. Come on, let’s get you inside the house before you catch yourself a cold.”  
  
Chris chuckles weakly and follows Peter to the house on weak legs. There’s soft light behind almost all the windows of the huge building standing between old fir trees.

Peter knocks at the door. A dark-haired woman opens the door and briefly rubs her cheek against Peter’s, her eyes flashing crimson red before settling on Chris and softening slightly. He knows who she is. Talia, Peter’s older sister. She’s been the Hale Alpha since their mother died. With a house full of children and youths, she had to grow up fast. Gerard has always been mocking her for her trust into the old truce between hunters and Hales. Has always called her soft and naive. But Chris has seen the steel behind her eyes and the strength in her posture. He's sure she is a force to be reckoned with. 

“Christopher,” Talia greets him, her eyes scanning his bruised face. She frowns. “I’m glad you came. I promise you are safe here. Please sit on the couch, we’ll get you something for these bruises."  
  
“Thank you,” Chris mumbles, lowering his head respectfully. Peter pulls him through the hallway into the living room. Chris sits on the couch. For a moment, he’s transfixed by the flames crackling in the fireplace. They warm the side of his face. His hair is still dripping wet. 

Derek, Peter’s oldest nephew, comes into the room and wordlessly hands Chris a towel and a cold pack. His brown eyes stick to the bruises for a moment. Two little girls are hiding behind Derek’s legs, staring at Chris with wide eyes. He feels uncomfortable for a moment, knowing everyone here is aware of his situation.   
  
He dries his hair with the towel and holds the cold pack to the bruised side of his face. He sighs. This kind of cold feels pleasant on his heated skin. Peter comes into the room with a plate full of sandwiches, chewing. He looks at Chris questioningly, but he shakes his head. His stomach revolts at the thought of food.  
  
Peter nods towards the door. “Come on. Let’s go to my room.” He looks at Derek. “Can you bring Leah and Sue to bed tonight?” 

Derek only nods and shoves the two curious girls towards the stairs. Chris hears half hearted protest interrupted by a loud yawn and grins weakly. “First full moon?”  
  
Peter shakes his head. There’s a certain fondness sparkling in his blue eyes. “They’re human. But of course, you can’t tell them to go to bed to their usual time when everyone else stays awake until morning.”  
  
Chris smiles and follows Peter to his room, still pressing the cold pack on his face. He almost stumbles over a heap of books and Peter pushes it aside with his foot, closing the door behind them. Chris sits on the bed heavily. He looks down at his hands in his lap. “What am I going to do now?”  
  
“You’re staying,” Peter says, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world and pulls a second blanket out of his wardrobe.  
  
Chris gapes at him. “You’re serious?”  
  
Peter shrugs. “Sure. What’s one person more living in this house?”  
  
Chris chews on his lower lip. He tries to not give in into the first feeling of careful hope too fast. “But your sister …”

“Approves of it, trust me. She likes you.”

“I don’t want you and your family to be in danger because of me,” Chris murmurs. 

Peter sits beside him, shaking his head. “Relax, Chris. Your father can’t come close to our house. It’s one of the conditions for the truce. And as old, crazy and hateful that bastard is, he can’t lead a war alone. Who would follow him? Who would throw away this long lasting peace for his own selfish desires? He can't do anything to you. I'll protect you. You’re safe here, Christopher.”  
  
Chris swallows. He wants to believe Peter's words. God, he wants to believe them so much. It took him years to accept what Peter was trying to tell him all along. It took him years to tell himself that he doesn’t deserve what his father is doing to him. That it’s not his fault. That he’s not the one to blame. That he doesn’t have to please a father who is abusing him. That he doesn’t have to lead the life Gerard wants him to lead.

He can choose his own way. His own life. His own future. His dreams.  
  
So Chris nods and tries to relax. Peter looks at him attentively and Chris wants to drown in his eyes. He lets himself be pulled into a tender kiss. Peter is careful, minding Chris’ injuries, and when they part, he strokes a finger along the side of Chris’ face carefully, down to his chin. “I wish, I could make it heal,” he says quietly. Chris smiles. “You already do, in a way.” Peter looks surprised and happy at that. 

Later, Talia brings him a glass of water and painkillers, telling Chris once again, that he is safe here and can stay as long as he wants to.  
  
Chris relaxes some more. It’s easier, when the aching pain finally lessens, when it changes to a bearable throbbing in the side of his face. He lays down and feels his eyes getting heavy. It is getting difficult to keep them open.  
  
Peter curls up beside him with a book, radiating warmth, and Chris lets the steady sound of turning pages lull him into a slumber. For the first time in ages, he sleeps without feeling anxious. Without the knowing Gerard could wake him up any time, for one of his lessons. 

He’s glad he finally found the strength to take this important step. He’s glad he has just opened the door and ran out. He’s glad he showed he won't just take it anymore. He’s fighting back. And he has people who will support him. He has Peter.  
  
He’s safe. 

**Author's Note:**

> These short stories are written for prompts on this list: [One Hundred Ways To Say "I Love You"](https://phantasticlizzy.tumblr.com/post/169119615088/one-hundred-ways-to-say-i-love-you)
> 
> You can prompt me, just send me the number and a ship on tumblr: [Tumblr](https://for-the-love-of-wolves.tumblr.com/)  
> :)


End file.
